


Thank God For Coffee

by jay_swan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Civil War Fix-It, How Do I Tag, I don't know what I'm doing, M/M, Meet-Cute, My First Fanfic, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-04-25 20:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14386689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jay_swan/pseuds/jay_swan
Summary: When Tony runs out of coffee and is practically forced out of the tower to get some air, Tony decides to buy coffee himself. And if he just so happens to meet a handsome stranger at the store, well, he's certainly not complaining.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot, not a multi-chapter. But I need some motivation to finish the rest, so I'm posting this much now. I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> I am my own beta. It's my first fic, so please be gentle with me, I guess?

Tony Stark was very proud to admit that he could be a normal human being, thank you very much. He can feel human emotions and do human things too, despite what certain individuals he knew liked to joke about. He's even done his own cleaning! It's just that he usually doesn't want to or need to. Or doesn't have the time for it. How is he supposed to properly science! if he's got to sleep? He can't, it would take too long and he's got Avengers to keep safe and prepared, improvements and repairs to make to both his armor and his Rhodey-bear's (only the best for Platypus), deadlines to make to keep his goddess in human form happy, the files from the Insight Incident (and yes, those definitely deserved to be capitalized) that he's still going over, training for the Maximoff twins to help oversee... and that's only a few of the things he has to do! 

So, no, he most assuredly does not have time for eating or sleeping. He can sleep when he's dead and food isn't as necessary to his health as people like to tell him. Unfortunately, that doesn't do him much good when his body decides that it doesn't want to listen and wants to go to sleep instead (traitorous thing). And it definitely doesn't help when there's no more coffee in the lab and a certain blond super soldier is blocking his way to more of the heavenly brew in the communal kitchen, at whatever-the-fuck-time-it-is in the morning, wearing his Captain America Is Disappointed In You Face.

“Tony. This is the first time I've seen you in over two days! Have you been in your lab this whole time? What were even doing down there?” Steve demanded.

“Uhh... science?” is Tony's eloquent reply. He was pretty sure he was slurring his words a bit, and sincerely hoped that Steve wouldn't pick up on it. But of course he did, if his expression was anything to go by.

“Tony, was the last time you slept? Properly? In a real bed? Or had any sleep at all for that matter?” He waited a bit for an answer that he already knew would not come. After a few beats, he glanced up to ceiling.”JARVIS, how long has it been?”

“J, don't you dare answer that! I'll give you away to a community college!” Tony threatened, glaring up at the nearest security camera with slightly pleading eyes. 

“Sir has been up for just short of 61 hours now.” came the smooth reply.

It was Steve's turn to glare while Tony looked at the camera in complete and utter betrayal. “JARVIS!”

“Thank you, JARVIS.” Steve said, his glare only barely losing its intensity when speaking to JARVIS. 

“JARVIS, how could you do this to me? Betrayed by my own creation!” Tony exclaimed, gesturing wildly as he did so.

“I'm sorry, Sir.” JARVIS said, sounding faintly amused, “But according to my protocols, as of 58 minutes ago, I am allowed to tell people, when asked, about your state of health. But only about which states of health they specify, of course.” 

Tony gaped while exasperation started leaking its way into Steve's posture. “Note to self, get rid of that protocol first thing when I get back to the lab.” Tony grumbled under his breath “And why have it at 60 hours, anyway? Two and a half days? Why not round it up to an even 3 days-?”

“Tony!” Steve scolded, having been able to hear Tony thanks to his enhanced ears.

“What?” Tony asked, turning to him. “Oh, come on, I've been awake longer then that lots of times before! The only reason I'm even tired at all right now is because my lab ran out of coffee without my noticing or my permission!” 

“Tony...” Steve groaned slightly, having long since stopped glaring at Tony, now he was slouching slightly with his hands on his hips. And people wonder why the Avengers sometimes jokingly refer to Steve as 'Mom', Tony thought to himself, slightly amused despite the situation at hand. “Okay, Tony. Here's what's going to happen: You are not going to have any coffee right now. Ah!” Steve said, stopping Tony as he went to interrupt, looking outraged. “No, no arguing! You are not going to have coffee right now. You,” Steve said firmly, pointing at Tony “are going to go bed and sleep. When you wake up, you are going to take a shower and then get something actually filling and healthy to eat, and no coffee then, either. Then, you are going to go outside and get some fresh air. You are not coming back for at least an hour. And then, and only then, can you go back to your lab.”

Tony stared at him when he was finished, completely unimpressed. “You done?” he asked.

Steve's eyes narrowed dangerously. “Bed, Tony. Now. I will carry you if I have to, don't think I won't.”

Tony threw his hands up in the air. Damn him, Steve knew he didn't like being carried around! Tony was a firm believer that the only good reason to get carried around, or picked up at all, was if you were having a little bit of...adult fun. Though, it's been a while since he had any of said fun that included being manhandled.“Fine. Fine! I'll do it. I'm going now, see?” Tony said loudly, making highly exaggerated steps back out of the kitchen and away from the coffee. “Wouldn't want you to break your elderly back or anything like that trying to take a fully grown adult to bed!” He grumbled, and with one last pitiful, mourning look over at the coffee machine Tony was out of the kitchen.

“I am a grown ass man, he cannot treat me this way just because he's team leader! This is my tower and I will do as I damn well please! We may call him a mother hen now and then, but he is not, in fact, mother or father to anyone in this tower! What the hell was he doing up, anyway? I wouldn't put it past him to wait to ambush me...I wouldn't put that past any of them, really.” Tony's muttering continued as he made his way to his penthouse and to his bedroom from there. “I've proven myself responsible before, multiple times, I'm sure. If it wasn't for me, Ultron would've gotten loose and done who knows what. I've said it once and I'll say it again, nothing good comes from messing with magic. God, I hate magic. I wouldn't have even brought Ultron up again if it weren't for that damn vision from hell. Damn you, Wanda. Damn you.”

“Sir, might I suggest you actually go to bed and sleep like Captain Rogers... suggested? You are starting to wear a hole in the floor.”

“JARVIS, you know how valuable I am, right? They wouldn't last two weeks without me. My home, my tech, my money, and I'm even the one who deals with the press for them!” Tony replied, as he stopped pacing and whirled around to look at the ceiling.

“Of course I do, Sir. And so do the rest of the Avengers. They are also aware of how badly Ultron could have been had you not been there and interfered. It's a good thing that you'd rescheduled the party to the next night, isn't it, Sir?” JARVIS consoled him, sounding a little too amused for Tony's liking.

“Thanks for the reminder, J. I can always count on you to soothe all my temper tantrums,” Tony smirked. He was about to continue the much more amusing pastime of sassing with JARVIS when he, without warning, yawned so hard his jaw popped. “JARVIS...I've only been awake a little over 60 hours, I shouldn't be that bad yet. Why am I so tired right now?” He asked before yawning again, much smaller this time. His words were definitely slurring now he absently noted as he began stumbling towards the bed, stripping down to his boxer briefs as he went.

“I believe it is most likely because of the fact that you'd been awake for over five days before the last time you'd gone to bed and you got up before your body was entirely ready to do so, Sir.”

“Yeah, that'd 'bout do it.” Tony murmured before he fell into his bed. He was completely dead to the world in only a matter of minutes.

xxx

When Tony woke up, it was still dark out. “JARVIS honey, how long was I asleep?” 

“You slept for a little over sixteen hours, Sir. It is currently 9:34 pm.”

“Damn. That long, huh?” Tony groaned, rubbing a hand down his face. He stumbled to his feet, blinking hard a couple of times. The last time he'd slept was... actually he couldn't remember the last time he slept that long for, which should really tell you something considering how good his memory was. 

...Actually that wouldn't be one of the things he'd remember very well, so that wouldn't tell you much at all. But, it'd definitely been a long time, he knows that much.

Stepping into the bathroom and looking in the mirror, Tony decided that he would take a shower after all. He was greasy all over, including his hair, from working in the lab and from being just flat-out dirty. A quick sniff under his arm confirmed that he smelled, too.

Sighing, he turned on the shower, fiddling with the knobs, before removing his only article of clothing and stepping in. He sighed again, this time because the water was absolutely heavenly. He stood there longer than strictly necessary just enjoying the feeling of the water before grabbing a shampoo at random and lathering up his hair, making sure to get all the oil and grease out as he rinsed. He did the the same with his body, remembering to switch the shampoo for body wash but forgetting to use the conditioner.

Damn it, this is one of the reasons why he doesn't sleep for a long time! It shuts his brain down and he keeps forgetting things (though he won't realize about the conditioner until later). He turned off the water and got out, his stomach growling.

“JARV, Captain Grumpy-pants said to eat something, didn't he? Is there any good breakfast food here?” the genius asked as he quickly shaved his goatee back to what it was actually supposed to look like.

“Actually Sir, I think you'll find that he specifically said to eat something 'filling and healthy'.” the AI responded. “And might I add that Captain Rogers will be thrilled that you're actually following his instructions.”

Tony paused in the entrance to his closet, “I am? Fuck, he said to eat right now, didn't he? Then go outside, right? Thank Thor's dad it's dark out, it means we can avoid the sun just to spite him! Well, fuck his instructions! We're gonna go out right now and eat wherever and whatever I want! Fire up the coffee machine, J! We're goin' out!” Tony exclaimed, pulling on some random jeans and a band shirt as he went, the rest of his grogginess having quickly faded away.

“Unfortunately Sir, I can't do that. The Captain seems to have hidden all the coffee machines in the tower. Excluding the one in your lab, of course. But, I got the impression that he only left that one alone because he knew there was no more coffee to be found there.”

Tony froze in grabbing his wallet and sunglasses. “What... he took... and hid... all... no... he wouldn't... wouldn't dare...” Tony said in quickly mounting horror.

“He would seem that he would, Sir.”

“Oh, hell no! Fuck no! I remember now, you said I can only get coffee after I've come back! Well, it's a good thing you're a bit of a moron Rogers, because guess where I'm going first thing! A motherfuckin' coffee shop, that's where!” Tony practically yelled in a frenzy as he left his room, slamming the door behind him as he went. He stormed through the penthouse where JARVIS, his beautiful, wonderful AI that he would be completely lost without, already had the elevator doors open, ready and waiting.

“JARVIS, to show you my gratitude for giving me this information, you are so getting some upgrades to your coding. And I would also like to thank you for telling me that I was following his ridiculous instructions, intentional or not.” Tony informed JARVIS as he got in the elevator, leaning against the back and crossing his arms impatiently.

“You're very welcome, Sir.” The AI answered primly.

xxx

Steve watched from one of the higher floors as Tony left the tower, having been watching for him, feeling quite proud of himself for making sure that Tony couldn't get his precious coffee when he'd first gotten up. The others hadn't been happy with him hiding all the coffee machines (mostly Clint), but there was only minimal complaining (again, mostly from Clint) once he'd explained. He hadn't eaten anything as far as he knew, but hopefully he'd either gotten himself to eat on his own floor or will eat while he was out. 

“So, he's finally left, huh?” 

Steve didn't startle as Natasha showed up besides him, too used to her showing up out of nowhere.

“Looks like it.” he said, briefly glancing over his shoulder at her. She was holding a cup of coffee and he wasn't particularly surprised to find that she knew where one of them was. Knowing her, she probably knew where all of them were (and probably held it over Clint's head). “And he never got his coffee.” he declared proudly.

Natasha hmm'd softly, looking down at the streets below with him. “You do know that he's probably going to a coffee shop, don't you?”

Steve slowly closed his eyes as realization set in, and slowly, deliberately, leaned his forward onto the window in front of him and banged his head against it, mentally cursing himself for forgetting about coffee shops and cafes.

Natasha just patted his shoulder, smirking, and walked off, sipping her coffee all the while.

xxx

Tony nearly moaned at his first sip of coffee. Delicious. The barista had been a little understandably starstruck but she got the job done quickly and made it exactly to his specifications. I wonder if she has some student loans or something I can pay off, Tony mused to himself, munching on his muffin. It probably didn't count as healthy considering it was chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. A thought occurring to him, he pulled out his phone.

“Hey, J. Send out an order to Costco. I want some of those six packs of double chocolate chip muffins.”

“Yes, Sir. Is there a specific amount you want?”

“Eh, just buy enough that to fill everybody up. We're probably going to get a least three dozen for Steve and Thor and Pietro and maybe Bruce, but whatever. Just err on the side of caution with it. And I'll want a couple packs sent down to the lab for myself.” Tony decided, absently waving a hand around.

“Of course, Sir. When you would like for them to arrive? In time for breakfast in the morning?”

“Yep.” Tony smirked in amusement.

“The order has been sent.”

“Good, good.” Tony says, finishing his drink with a loud, satisfied sigh. Getting up from his seat, he walked back over to the counter and ordered another coffee. He made sure to leave a generous tip for the baristas who'd made his coffee and walked out the door, inhaling the drool-worthy aroma as he went. He didn't know how anyone could live without it.

While walking back to the tower, he realized that he still didn't have any coffee in his lab, so he quickly turned back around. There was a store just a block beyond the coffee shop he was just at, he knew. And he wasn't going to go through all this nonsense again just because he'd run out of coffee!

xxx

Thankfully, the store was near enough to closing time that there wasn't really very many people there. Tony figures he's pretty lucky that the baristas are the only ones to have recognized him back at the coffee shop as he really does need to get back to work. He's got to finish the repairs to Rhodey's armor and the deadline is coming up for when Pepper needs the new StarkPad. 

He made his way over to the coffee aisle with a cart, blueprints and schematics running through his mind. He was just turning into the aisle when someone else holding a basket was turning out of it. Tony tried to stop but because he had a cart he ended up hitting the guy in the gut anyway. Immediately, the guy bent over a bit, his hand going to his stomach as a small grunt left him. “Shit...”

“Oh, my god! Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Tony says quickly rounding his cart to the guy's side. “I've only had two cups of coffee and I literally just finished the last one outside. Two cups is not enough for me to actually be functional; I need at least a third before I'm functional.”

“It's fine.” he says, waving a hand. He raised his head and their eyes met making Tony's breath catch in his throat. Holy shit. The man had beautiful blue-grey eyes that he felt he could stare at for hours. He'd always been a sucker for blue eyes. Combined with bone structure models would kill for and shoulder-length brown hair that Tony's fingers just itched to run through, and Tony just knew that a pre-Afghanistan him would have already been hitting on him. But his playboy days were long since finished. And he couldn't even make it with Pepper. If he couldn't make it work with her, then he didn't have much faith in how well he could make it work with anyone. “Were you asleep recently or something? Most people don't need coffee like that unless they haven't been awake long.” the man said, straightening up as he did so.

Ah, fuck. He's even a little taller then Tony. Tony's always liked his men a little taller. “Well, I'm not most people.” Shit, that came out flirtatiously. Hopefully he didn't notice.

But the man raised an eyebrow at him, and why did that simple act seem so familiar to him? “Sure you aren't, sugar. You always go runnin' into people like that?”

“Not... usually. No.” Tony faltered, he had no idea why but him raising his eyebrow like that had struck a huge chord of familiarity in him. And now even the rest of him was looking familiar too. “Have we met before? At a press conference or something?”

The man's eyebrow went up again, and this time its twin went along with it. “Trust me, we definitely haven't met before. Woulda remembered somethin' like that.” He shifted the basket to the crook of his elbow bringing the rest of him into view, and goddammit, if there was another thing Tony loved on his men, it was the thighs. And this guy could crush a man with those things. 

Tony'd been so busy remarking on the sudden familiarity and his goddamn tree trunk thighs, that Tony only just realized the man had not only flirted with him once, but twice.

Putting a hand to his heart in mock-outrage, Tony exclaimed “My good sir, are you flirting with me? I'll have you know that I am a man with a strong family background. You can't just come up to me and demand my attention in such a way! What would my mother think? I don't even know your name!”

An odd look went through the man's eyes at the mention of his mother but it was gone so quick that Tony almost thought he'd imagined it. The corner of his mouth quirked up before he responded with “My name's James. There, now you know my name. But, what about yours?”

Tony answered the question with a little upturn of the nose, figuring that the man – James – was just playing along with their little game, “It's Anthony if you must know. However, my friends simply call me Tony.”

The corner of the James' mouth grew a little while the other corner also started to rise. “Well, what have I gotta do to be one o' those people lucky enough to call you by your chosen name?”

Tony pretended to gape at James for a second before, “What a polite thing to ask! Most don't, how refreshing! It would seem that you are a charming young man after all. Just for that, you may call me Tony.” Internally, Tony was glad that James had never actually called him Anthony. He could really only tolerate it if it was Thor speaking it. But Thor was such a big golden retriever, that he couldn't really bring himself to correct him. Besides, most of the time he actually genuinely didn't mind Thor calling him Friend Anthony! in his big booming voice. But that was one of the only times he didn't mind.

James smirked a little at him, “Thanks, doll. My mama will be so pleased to hear that she raised her little boy up just right to be the little gentleman she'd always wanted him to be.”

Tony snorted, a little ungracefully. “Well, gentlemanly is pushing it a bit,” he smirked, mischief shining in his eyes. “I remember you flirting before we introduced ourselves. You're secretly a little bit of a hooligan at heart, aren't you?”

“Guilty.” 

Tony laughed at that and walked back to the front of his cart and pushed it out and around James. “I didn't actually hurt you, did I? I tried to stop...” James turned with Tony and they both headed into the aisle James had just vacated.

“Nah, just surprised s'all. I'm not hurt, honest. Trust me, I've been hurt a lot worse than that before.” His eyes went distant for a moment. 

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” Tony murmured, several images flying through his head; lying in the sand with fresh shrapnel wounds in his chest, his chest being carved open, his head being shoved under water as his lungs fought for air, feeling shrapnel inch its way closer to heart after Stane took the reactor, palladium slowly killing him, fighting Vanko in Monaco, getting stuck in the helicarrier engine... Tony shook himself out of it before he remembered anymore and turned to James only to find James already staring at him, looking at him with something that looked suspiciously like understanding.

Clearing his throat, Tony turned away and started grabbing random things for making coffee off the shelves and throwing them into the cart. James made a slightly amused sound, “No wonder you talked about not having had enough coffee yet if this is how much you drink.”

Tony glanced back at him, smirked, and started paying attention to what he was grabbing, making sure to grab everything they had of his favorite brands – whatever they had of them, anyway. He was not going to run out of coffee in his lab again. “I'd inject it into my veins if I could. Coffee is what keeps me running, you know. Why? You got something against coffee?” Tony asked, turning back around having grabbed what he deems to be a acceptable amount. “I'm warning you now, you insult my coffee and I will fight you.” 

James looked particularly amused at that, as if him and Tony ever fighting was a ridiculous concept. “Ain't nothin' wrong with coffee. Used ta know a couple guys who lived on the stuff, though not as much as you,” he said, pointedly eyeing Tony's cart filled with nothing but coffee as they made their way to the check-out. “S'been a long time since I've had coffee, though. I don't even remember it all that much...” he mused as Tony openly gaped at him, the concept unheard of to him. 

“I genuinely do not remember what that's like. Any day without coffee is bad, bad day for me.”

The expression on James' face at that was unreadable, “Actually today's been an unusually good day for me.”

Tony turned his head to look at him, but James was looking at the ground, the tiniest of smiles on his face. There was something very genuine and... deep, about the way he said that. But there was something almost familiar about it, too. 

It almost made Tony believe that he'd had similar good days like what James was talking about, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Figuring that out included delving a little too into things Tony would rather not do at this present time.

They approached the check-out and were about to get in line when Tony abruptly turned to James, “Wait, don't you still have some shopping to do?”

James looked at him a second before he quirked an eyebrow at him. Again, that feeling of familiarity hit him, stronger then ever, but Tony didn't have any time to ponder that before James was responding, “Nah, I was actually done when you ran into me. Was on my here before I ended up scandalously flirtin' with you, doll.” 

Tony rolled his eyes “And yet the flirting continues! Scandals? Please! We eat scandals for breakfast 'round here!” Tony declared loudly, drawing some attention. The staff and the only other costumer at the check-out stared at them, or more specifically, at Tony but he ignored them and got in line. Tony promptly refused to let James pay for his stuff and paid for him, declaring how much a gentleman he was all the while – Tony personally thought that he was even more of a gentleman because he didn't say anything about James' weird groceries. It was only a bag a green grapes, a bottle of Martinelli's, a bottle of chocolate syrup, and some goldfish crackers, so it wasn't like it was hard to pay for but still – with James looking faintly amused in the background. And since Tony insisted on paying for everything, James insisted on carrying everything. To say that Tony had been shocked when James had actually been able to do it was an understatement. Tony had bought a lot of coffee. They left the store and Tony looked up and realized where they'd been. “We were in Target? Huh.”

James snorted behind him, “You didn't know that?”

“Hey!” Tony started defensively, “All I knew and all I needed to know was that it was a store and they sold coffee! Everything else was unimportant.”

James started to look decidedly unimpressed with him. “I'm not sure I trust you on your own now.”

“Hey-!”

“So, I'll have to at least walk you home.” James declared, looking like a real charmer with a little smirk but there was unease in his eyes, as if he wasn't used to being forward but wanted to be.

Tony froze in shock at his words for a split-second before a grin started growing until it took over his whole face. “Well, well, well. Looks like you're a real gentleman after all.” Tony said softly. Damn it, Tony had yet to find a flaw in this man. He was gorgeous, had a nice voice, a similar sense of humor to him, was a bit of a smooth talker, had a bit of a Brooklyn accent, and now he was actually asking to walk Tony home. Tony could invite him in for a 'cup of coffee' (where they probably would actually have coffee first because Tony still couldn't believe the fact that James couldn't really remember what coffee tasted like) and he'd accept! And judging by how gorgeous he was and how obviously strong he was, Tony could tell that unless the man was absolutely terrible in bed (which he instinctively doubted), he would more than enjoy it. If nothing else, the view would be more than worth it. But he wasn't a playboy like that anymore, regardless of what the media liked to think. “Shall we?” Tony asked, gesturing at the parking lot before them.

James quirked an eyebrow in amusement at him, that eyebrow was going to drive him nuts, and said, “We shall. I'd offer you my arm and all, but uh...” he lifted his arms a bit, gesturing to them, as they cut across the parking lot and started on the sidewalk that would take them to the tower. But what Tony noticed was that not only was he strong enough to carry the bags, he could even lift them. 

“Oh, alright,” Tony laughed, distractedly. “We'll just walk side-by-side like a couple o' pals. A pair o' chums. Just absolute besties,” he teased. 

James' smile grew a tiny bit at that. “Well, of course. What else do you call people whose stuff you paid for and now they're carrying everything for the both of you?” he said looking down at the numerous bags in his arms with the one bag carrying his own stuff. 

“Hey, I protested! You're the one who wouldn't let me carry any of it! How dare you accuse me of not doing something that I actually tried to do!” Tony raged, faking offense. 

The corner of James' mouth started curving upwards again, “I'm accusin' you of bein' over-dramatic, that's all,” he said in an entirely too innocent tone of voice.

“Oh, is that all?” Tony asked sarcastically, trying and failing to mask his amusement. He couldn't help it; when James wasn't looking and acting super sad and serious, he almost looked like a completely different person. It made him want to see more of it.

They were nearing the tower when James stopped and said “'M sorry, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to walk you all the way home.”

Tony stopped too, and stared at him, startled by the change in subject. “What? Really? How come? What happened?”

“Hey, slow down. 'S just that somethin' came up is all. I'm down that way, anyway.” he pointed across the street. “Don't worry, you live in that tower, don't cha?”

Tony nodded, still confused. “What on earth came up? You haven't had any phone alerts or anything.” He really needed to work on his brain-to-mouth filter. 

James glanced at him from where he'd been looking at the tower. “If you're worried about all these groceries, you don't need to be.” 

“That's not even what I'm thinking about, but I'd definitely like to know why you think that-” 

James cut him off there which was probably good because Tony was probably going to ramble... again.

“I think that because of that.” He gestured with his chin towards the tower and Tony turned to look only to realize that the angle they were at meant that he could see inside the lobby and to the elevator doors on the opposite wall. Elevator doors which were opening up to reveal Steve coming out and making his way towards the entrance. 

“How did you-?” Tony turned back towards James, questions on the tip of his tongue – because seriously Steve didn't come out of the elevator until after Tony had turned so how the hell had James seen Steve? – only to find that there wasn't anyone there. He looked around quickly trying to spot him, but to no avail. 

“Tony!”, came Steve's voice surprisingly close, startling the genius. 

“What!?”, Tony demanded, whirling around to face Steve, noting and promptly ignoring the unimpressed scowl on Steve's face. “You wanted me to go out and I went out. Honestly, you should be proud of me for listening to your instructions so well for once.”

“I might have been closer to that if it hadn't taken me three tries of calling your name to get your attention! And worse, from what I can tell, all you bought was coffee!” 

“Well, coffee is a necessity of life”, Tony defended, trying to glance around without Steve noticing what he was doing, but of course he did. 

“What are you looking for?”, Steve asked, glancing around as well. His eyes darted to Tony to find him not even trying to hide his looking around anymore, and clearly not having heard him. 

“Tony?”, the blonde asked, concern quickly taking place of whatever annoyance remained. His hand came up to touch Tony's shoulder, but as soon as his hand made contact, the shorter man startled and whirled around to face him. 

“Rogers – Steve – Cap, did you-?”, Tony cut himself off and seemed to hesitate, which Steve didn't think he'd seen before. The cutting himself off part, in particular. “Did you by any chance... see anyone out here with me? When you first came out, I mean?” 

Steve stared at Tony for a few seconds before he cautiously turned his head and looked around again, his eyes scanning the all the people passing by and all the doorways and alleyway entrances before he turned back to Tony. “No, Tony. I didn't see anyone with you. And I don't see anything out of the ordinary, either.” Steve said much to Tony's disappointment. “Tony”, Steve started, “are you feeling alright?” 

“What?” Tony's eyes snapped back to Steve's face from where he'd been looking off to the side, “yeah, of course I'm alright. I'm always a-okay, you know that. Come on, help me get these inside. You should help because, after all, you are the one who wanted me to go out. And I mean what kind of advice – I'm not calling them orders no matter what you say, Rogers – what kind of advice was that anyway? What if something happened? I could've been kidnapped and then where would you all have been?...” 

Tony continued talking as he and Steve carried the bags from Target inside the tower, both unaware of the blue eyes that had been watching them the whole time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! That definitely wasn't my intention. 
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos, comments, and bookmarks! I might have squealed and flailed when I got my first comment, so yeah. 
> 
> There were supposed to be italics in both this chapter and the last and I don't know where they went. 
> 
> Enjoy!

It had been a few weeks since the night Tony met James, but he hadn't forgotten. In fact, he probably thought about it more than was strictly necessary considering it was just the one meeting nearly a month ago, but that didn't stop him from thinking about that night anyway. James had been charming and sweet, funny and understanding. Not to mention, sexy as hell. 

Tony honestly thought it was a little ridiculous that he was so hung up on a guy he met once and it hadn't even been an hour. James still seemed familiar to him though, and he couldn't even figure out why. 

Once, in a moment of weakness, Tony had tried to find him again, but no luck. Anybody living in or around New York in the last year with the name James and James' physical description wasn't him. Even with JARVIS' advanced methods of searching. Either James really didn't want to be found, and was exceptionally good at hiding, or he'd given a fake name. 

Both options didn't really bear thinking about. The first option concerned Tony because of fucking course that would be the kind of guy he'd run into. If that was right then there was a good chance that them running into each other wasn't an accident, after all. He really didn't want to deal with any kind of manipulations. He's had enough of those, thank you. 

But the second option... that thought hurt. Because he'd actually liked James. He hadn't wanted to because relationships and Tony went as well together as oil and water. Unfortunately, his liking him didn't dissipate at all during their time apart. 

In a particularly weak – and somewhat lonely – moment, he had JARVIS bring up the CCTV footage, his disapproval hanging in the air as he did so. 

Tony had gotten to watch as he and James came into view and then paused. They spoke briefly before Tony turned to face the entrance, but current Tony's eyes stayed glued on James. As soon as past Tony wasn't looking at him anymore, he quickly – quick enough that Tony's eyes almost couldn't keep up – put down all of Tony's bags and ran to a shadowed alcove in a nearby building, with his own bag still on his arm. And he somehow did all of it without making a noise and quick enough that Tony was turning back as he disappeared. Tony rewatched it several times with a growing sense of unease. Somebody who could move like that made it seem all the more likely that their meeting wasn't accidental. And they clearly hadn't wanted Steve to find out. Or maybe it was any of the Avengers? He just didn't know. 

When Tony tried to see into where James had hidden, he found that was actually only one camera where you could see that spot as more than just shadows. And it was the kind of obscure camera that you'd forget about entirely and probably miss if you didn't have an AI connected to all the cameras in the area at your disposal. If James' goal was to hide from all the cameras, there's a chance he might not have even known about that one. But his gut feeling was telling that wasn't quite true. Absentmindedly, Tony suspected that that spot would be difficult to see clearly even during the daylight – he'd later check that theory and find that he was right. 

As soon as he found that footage though, he learned that James had actually stayed behind to watch his and Steve's interaction. Why, Tony couldn't even begin to guess. It was far enough away that Tony didn't think he'd be able to hear their conversation, but James seemed as if he could hear them. Between his possible hearing and definite speed, Tony was fairly confident in calling James an Enhanced. He only stayed for a few seconds after Tony and Steve were gone and up the elevator before turning around and leaving. Tony tried to follow him, but he lost him after a block. 

Looking back on what precious little he'd learned, Tony could see why he was so hung up on the guy. He left behind too many questions and too little answers. 

Although, it was probably a good thing JARVIS talked him out setting up a tracking algorithm. That night... wasn't one of Tony's best. 

But what was really shocking to him was that he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He'd genuinely liked James that night which was fairly rare for him. He wasn't usually that quick to trust. 

JARVIS's voice broke him out of his musings, “Sir, Captain Rogers is outside the door.” 

The billionaire looked over and, sure enough, there he was, pacing in front of the door to the lab. 

“J, what is he even doing? And how long has he been doing it?” Tony asked in complete bewilderment. 

“Captain Rogers seems to be giving himself a pep talk about coming in here and talking to you, Sir. And he has been at it for approximately two and a half minutes,” JARVIS answered promptly. 

“That long, huh?” Tony ran a hand over his face and held it briefly over his mouth in contemplation. It really wasn't like Steve to give himself a pep talk for anything, at least not as far as Tony knew, regardless of how long or short he had been at it. “JARV, open the door for me, will ya? And make sure he can hear me?” 

JARVIS didn't answer verbally, simply opening the door as requested. “You gonna hang out there all night, Steve?” Tony asked. Distantly, he heard his voice echoing by half a second, startling Steve who had whirled around as the near soundless door opened. He must be pretty strung up, Tony realized. “Come on in,” he added, trying to make his voice calm and soothing. If he succeeded or not, Tony couldn't tell as Steve didn't really react, but became rather determined as entered the lab. Whatever this was, it was serious. 

“Tony,” Steve greeted, before frowning a little. “You do know know it's not night, right? It's the middle of the afternoon.” 

“Really?” Tony questioned, quickly squashing the urge to quote The Princess Bride, before turning to the nearest monitor where his ever dependable JARVIS already had the current time of 3:19 PM displayed. 

“Tony-,” Steve started somewhat disapprovingly before quickly cutting himself off with a quick head shake, making Tony internally sigh a little with relief as he only ever wanted to be lectured on days that were not whatever day it was at the time. So basically, never. 

“Tony,” Steve started again, apparently determinedly back on track. “I have something I need to tell you. It's important.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at that before looking him up and down, noting his tense posture and clenched fists. The blond honestly looked as if he was about to go into battle and for the life of him, Tony couldn't figure out why. 

“Alright Cap,” Tony agreed, nodding slowly. “How about we move this over to the couch? More personal, more comfortable,” Tony suggested, already standing up from his stool and moving over to sit on the couch, which he sank into gratefully, not having realized how numb his lower half was. 

Steve gave a sharp nod as he followed him over but remained standing, seemingly too restless to sit as he clenched and unclenched his jaw and fists. Tony waited, worry and anxiousness starting to grow as the younger man opened his mouth only to hesitate and close it before repeating the process, frustration visibly growing on his face. 

“Why don't you start at the beginning?” the brunette suggested lowly, aiming to not startle him. It seemed to help somehow, whether it was the suggestion or the tone of voice, as Steve squared his shoulders – Tony hadn't known that they could even get more square – and took a deep breath, before finally he spoke again. 

“Do you remember when Natasha and I were on the run for a little bit just before we exposed Hydra as being part of SHIELD?” Steve questioned, causing Tony to furrow his brow and tilt his head slightly at the seemingly random question. 

“Um, yeah, of course I do,” he answered slowly. He was starting to get a little suspicious about where this was headed. “Why?” 

“How much do you know of what happened back then?” Steve continued on as if Tony hadn't spoken. 

“Well...” Tony paused, “I know you two went on a mission together, the details of which were released online with everything else, and Nat got all she could from the hard drives. I know Fury was seemingly killed by the Winter Soldier, who turned out to be your best friend Bucky Barnes himself, captured by Hydra. SHIELDRA set up a manhunt for you two and almost caught you at a local mall. You guys ended up in Jersey of all paces where they tried to blow you up, and clearly failed. You met up with Wilson, had a fight on a freeway with Barnes, actually got captured, escaped pretty quickly, met up with Hill and Fury at some point, too. There was some kind of algorithm that tracked everyone who could be a threat to Hydra which they were going to use my helicarriers for. Had the absolutely brilliant plan of dumping everything on the internet – I still believe you should've called me for help with at least that, by the way – you fought Barnes again on the helicarrier which ended with you in the hospital and him in the wind. Pierce died, umm...” Steve nodded along with his recap of what he knew, frowning at a couple points. “Did I get anything wrong?” 

Steve shook his head, “No, not really. We met up with Hill because she'd infiltrated the Hydra agents. She's actually how we escaped so quickly. Then she took us to Fury. That's when we found out he was still alive,” He hadn't actually known that, but it made sense. Plus, if Fury would have trusted anyone about faking his death it would've been Hill. But he'd already figured as much. “And you've scolded us about putting everything online before. Both Nat and I have agreed that we weren't thinking straight and didn't think about undercover agents and their families. But I'm not here to talk about that.” 

“Okay? Are going to tell me what this is about?” 

Steve seemed to hesitate again before starting again, “You mentioned us going to New Jersey. What do you know about that in particular?”

Tony was starting to get a little tired of all this beating around the bush but knew that trying to get the man to get to the point faster wouldn't get him anywhere and would probably get him to the point even slower. “Not much more then what I said, really. You ended up at some kind of base there with the flash drive from the ship. I assume you found something there, but I don't know what. Then of course, they blew the place up but you both made it out of there just fine.” He shrugged, not knowing any of the more intricate details of what happened there. 

The blond nodded, apparently deep in thought. “You're right. We did find something. In the basement there was what computers apparently looked like when they were first created. A whole room. Turns out that those computers were actually Dr. Arnim Zola,” Tony blinked in shock, recognizing the name, “a scientist who worked directly under Red Skull back in the war. The computer was his brain preserved, he's the one who wrote the algorithm that chose everyone that Hydra deemed a threat to their world view or who would ever be a threat to them. He actually identified us when we came in.” So, that's who came up with it, Tony thought as Steve continued. “Zola's the one who told us about Hydra being inside SHIELD since the beginning.”

“Okaaaay...?” Tony asked slowly. 

“Look,” Steve was clearly getting frustrated with either how long this was taking or how this was going and Tony honestly wasn't sure which it was. “Zola told us a lot of stuff there and one of the things he told us was how Hydra would keep a close watch on things so that they would know the right time for them to come out of the shadows and get started on Project Insight.” Here Steve paused, and Tony got the distinct feeling that he was finally getting to the reason for this visit. “He said they had been secretly feeding crisis and reaping war so that humanity would eventually willingly give up its freedom. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed. He had some footage going, showing Bucky briefly. Nat said that SHIELD would have stopped them, but...”

“But... what, Steve?” Tony felt like he was on the edge of his seat. 

“But...” Steve hesitated again, before taking another deep breath and seemingly steeling his resolve, “Zola said that accidents happen. The video feed showed us a couple images of people they'd had killed. One was of Fury's file, now saying deceased. And the other... the other was a newspaper cover of the night... the night that Howard Stark died.”

If Steve kept on speaking after that, Tony didn't hear it. He was in too much shock. 

“What...?” He distantly heard himself say. “My parents... my mother... they were...” 

“Tony, I know this must be hard for you to hear-” 

“I blamed myself...” 

That brought Steve up short. “What?” 

Tony looked up at him with haunted eyes, “I blamed myself... That night, we... they told me that it was because he was most likely driving drunk. Howard was never so drunk that he couldn't drive, at least not when he knew he'd be driving. ...I always thought that it was my fault because we'd fought before they left. I thought... I thought that Howard killed her. But to know that it was actually Hydra all along...” 

“Tony, I'm so sorry-” 

“Wait.” Steve paused and stared at Tony who was clearly thinking through something. “You said this happened during Project Insight.” It wasn't a question, but Steve swallowed and answered, knowing exactly where this was going. 

“Yeah.” 

“Rogers-” Tony started, causing Steve to wince, “Project Insight was over a year and a half ago.” 

Steve didn't answer, just looked at Tony as he continued. “Project Insight was over a year and a half ago, and you're... you're just telling me this now?” He wasn't quite sure when he had stood up, but he was standing now and his voice was getting steadily louder. “You've known all this time! Were you ever going to tell me?! Why tell me at all, why did you even tell me now? What changed?” He didn't really give the man any chance to answer any of them before he was firing off the next question. But here he stopped to take great heaving breaths, just now realizing how much faster his breathing was. 

The taller man takes advantage of his pause to speak. “He wouldn't come unless you knew.” 

That caught his attention. “What? Who?” 

Steve glanced down before looking back to his face. “You asked what changed. We found Bucky. Or, he let us find him. I don't know how long he's been in New York. But I do know he hasn't been here the whole time.” This time when he glanced away, he didn't look back. “He wouldn't come with us unless you knew the truth.” 

“What...? So, you only told me because you had to?! Because there was some kind of... ultimatum?!” Tony half-shouted. 

“That's not what I said!” Steve interjected, sounding tired. 

“That's what it sounded like!” He ran both hands through his hair and gripped it tightly, a cold, betrayed look in his eyes. Something occurred to him then and a deep sense of foreboding settled in his gut. “You said...” he started almost haltingly, his change in tone causing Steve to finally look at him again. “You said... that he wouldn't go with you unless I knew the truth.” He looked back at Steve, who was looking almost... resigned. “Why would Barnes care, Steve? Why would the man who was the Winter Soldier care if I know about my parents' death?” Tony was near pleading at this point, begging for Steve to say it wasn't true; that he hadn't been keeping this from him. 

But Steve just looked at him and didn't say anything, giving Tony his answer. 

Steve could only watch as Tony's grew cold – but with such a burning rage in them that he never wanted to see again – and his posture straightened with clenched fists before he pointed a shaking finger to the door. “Get out.” 

And Steve went. 

xxx 

No one saw Tony for the next week. If he ever left the workshop, he avoided them all with the kind of precision and efficiency one only had when they had the tower's AI on their side. When asked, JARVIS would only give vague non-answers and was particularly cold to Steve and Natasha. Once she found out that he had only just told Tony the truth, she was cold to him, too. They sparred daily, which was pretty much just Natasha kicking Steve's ass. 

Steve also went to the workshop every day and apologized repeatedly to the blacked out windows. He would try to explain everything, but it never came out quite right. He never received an answer. 

Others would stop outside the locked door and try to talk – one memorable occasion was Pietro accompanied by a silent Wanda, they stayed the shortest but it was nice to see them making such progress – but none of them got any answers either. 

Tony watched it all from inside the 'shop. The place was a disaster that Tony had done in a drunken state that Dum-E, U, and Butterfingers were attempting to slowly clean up. JARVIS, bless his artificial soul, was trying to direct them but between Dum-E's eagerness and Butterfingers' clumsiness... well, it was little wonder to their creator why the mess wasn't completely gone even after nearly a week. He drinks so little usually, but he thought he had good reason to get a little wasted. 

Tony'd found everything SHIELD had on the Winter Soldier, which was pathetically little. And he'd found everything Hydra had on the Winter Soldier, which was quite a bit more. Enough that you could tell they'd had Barnes for 70 years. 

He'd also found surveillance camera footage from December 16, 1991. 

He'd started to watch it but before anything could even happen, he'd stopped the video and had to immediately fight off a panic attack. He hadn't tried again. 

He hadn't watched any other videos of him, either. Didn't even look at his face in any pictures. These days, he didn't trust himself not to get nightmares from that alone. He did not need any more nightmare fuel, thank you. 

He read the files and mission reports, though. And what he read was beyond sickening. He'd probably drunk more in the last week then he had in the last three months. He ended up calling Rhodey because he would definitely have a better idea what to do than Tony would. 

When he'd explained everything to him, he was understandably furious, but he listened and stayed where he was instead of coming 'to beat Rogers' ass.' Unfortunately, he didn't actually give him advice of any kind. 

“Whatever you plan to do Tones, I'll support you. I've got your six.” 

“Thanks, Platypus.” Tony answered with a tired little sigh. He hadn't been sleeping very well and he knew Rhodey could tell, but he hadn't said anything, for which Tony was pathetically grateful. 

After talking with Rhodey, Tony still didn't know what to do, but he felt better having the support. Calling Pepper and Happy (who were in Brazil at the moment) yielded much the same results. Although Tony was left with the distinct impression that all three would find ways to get their revenge on Rogers. The thought shouldn't make him smile as much as it did, reminding him how grateful he was to have them in his life. 

He paused as someone knocked on the door and looked over to one of his monitors where JARVIS was already displaying who it was. He got to watch as, once again, Rogers was there and apologizing, freshly fading bruises all over his body. He wasn't there very long before Wilson showed up and dragged him off. Apparently, Barnes had told them to come find him again in a week and Rogers had lost track of time sparring (losing) against Natasha. 

He watched them leave, feeling conflicted. He hadn't wanted to admit it, but he'd already forgiven Barnes. He'd known since he'd even found out the man was alive that he'd been brainwashed by Hydra. It's just not exactly the easiest thing to remember when you find out when of his assassinations hits a little too close to home. He was probably going to struggle a lot around the man when Rogers eventually brings him to the tower. Because he would bring him. That much was clear. The question was when it was going to happen. 

Tony definitely had to give Barnes this, though. He hadn't wanted Tony to unknowingly house the man who killed his parents, willingly or not. That, and the fact that it really was an unwilling situation all-around definitely helped in Barnes' favor. 

In truth, it was Steve he was upset with. The man had no right to keep this from him. Absolutely none. He understood Nat's reasons. He didn't necessarily like it, but he understood it. Steve told her he would tell him and she trusted him to do it. She was listening to her team leader. He didn't know if she was manipulating him or not, but her apologies sounded a lot more sincere than Rogers' did. He liked to think they'd actually become good friends, so he was pretty sure she was being genuine. Rogers though, Tony could not think of a single reason why he hadn't told him before. All the reasoning that Rogers gave just sounded like excuses to his (admittedly, a little biased) mind. 

If he was being perfectly honest with himself, he already knew what he was going to do. 

xxx

He didn't know how long Rogers and Wilson were going to take to see Barnes or if they would bring the man back with them. Tony really hoped they didn't. He didn't think he was quite ready to face Barnes just yet. 

He didn't really want to have to seek Rogers out, either. But he needn't have worried. When the two of them came back just an hour later, the look on Rogers' face made it pretty clear just how things went. He seemed determined yet miserable at the same time. The cause for the determination was clear when he tried to go straight to workshop. Tony didn't exactly relish the idea of a Steve Rogers that determined coming to the workshop, looking like he was about to fight a battle. So, Tony was extremely thankful when Wilson managed to pull him aside and talk him down a bit. He still came to workshop but he seemed to be much more calm than he was. He arrived and stopped to think about he was going to say, like he usually did. He almost didn't seem to know what to say this time, though. He sighed, before crossing his arms and leaning one shoulder against the doorway. 

“Tony... hey. I'm sure you can hear everything I'm saying. You can probably see everything, too.” He briefly paused. “We just got back from seeing Bucky. He... wasn't very impressed with how I handled everything between us. No one is really. A lot of people have been telling me all sorts of things – trying to get me to understand how wrong I was, I guess. I still believe that some part of me was trying to spare you from this. I didn't realize that I'd be making everything worse. Sam's been helping a lot, with everything, really.” The blond stopped himself and started again, “Tony, I understand that you're angry at Bucky. Admittedly, I didn't really understand how you could be. But Bucky and Sam made some good-” 

“You act like Barnes is the one I'm angry at.” 

He stuttered to a halt, “...What?” He knew logically that Tony's voice came from a speaker, hidden in the walls and ceilings like JARVIS's cameras, but that didn't stop him from jerking upright and trying to look through the door as if he could see the owner of that voice. 

The door opened to reveal Tony, his face carefully neutral and not giving anything away. 

“I said, you act like Barnes is the one I'm angry at.” Internally, Tony could his anger for the super soldier growing again. It seemed like these days, everything revolved around his precious Bucky. Apparently, Wilson and Barnes had only just started to scratch the surface of his current issues. 

“He's... not?” 

“No, Rogers-”, the grimace that passed over Rogers' face did not go unnoticed, “-he's not.” 

“Then why-?” 

“You seem to keep on underestimating me, Cap. You didn't think me capable of the news of my parents murder by my father's old war buddy. You didn't think I was capable of understanding.” 

The blond's jaw clenched as he determinedly kept on looking Tony in the eyes. 

“Do you have plans to go see Barnes again?” 

His eyes narrowed as if his first instinct was to be suspicious but was trying not to be. “Yes. One week from today, same time, same place.” 

The billionaire had the feeling that one of the only reasons he was telling him even that much was because he didn't think Tony knew where they met. And while it was true that he didn't know, he could very easily find out. He honestly doubted that Rogers or Wilson put too much of an effort into hiding from CCTV cameras. 

“When you go see Barnes in a week, you can tell him that he can come back here with you if he wants.” 

Tony could happily admit in the privacy of his own mind – or to anyone that asks – that he took some petty satisfaction in watching the complete and utter shock that appeared on the other's face. He had every right to be petty and he would definitely be taking advantage of that. Not every time, no. But often enough. 

He turned to go back inside his workshop when Rogers seemed to come to his senses, “Tony, wait!” 

He halted but didn't turn around or answer, waiting for the blond to speak up. 

“Tony... thank you so, so much for this. It's so generous and it's going to help him so much. We don't really know how well he's doing because he hides it from us, but surrounding him with people who know what he's been through and knows who he is, people who remember him as he was, it can only help, I'm sure-” Tony actually had doubts about that one, “-and to find out that you're not actually mad at him... he'll be so relieved to find his fears were unfounded. But...” he paused, remembering something from earlier in the conversation, “you said that he wasn't the one you were mad at. Then who...?” 

At this Tony turned around and gave Rogers a very dark glare, he let all his hurt and anger and grief and betrayal that he had been feeling in the past week be shown in that glare. And he directed all of it at the man before him. He could easily tell that he hadn't been the slightest bit prepared for it as the man nearly stumbled in his shock. Tony knew he had very expressive eyes and knows he can get a pretty dark look about him when he wants. Rogers, however, clearly hadn't known Tony could look like that and nearly flinched at having it directed towards him now. 

“That's easy, Steve,” he practically growled, “the one that I'm really angry with... is you.” 

Then he definitely took some petty satisfaction in slamming the door closed in Rogers' face. 

xxx 

Tony had to admit that he was a little surprised Rogers didn't run off to fetch Barnes immediately. It made him wonder if it was just the man listening to what he said about bringing him back with him when he saw him next or of maybe Rogers, Barnes, and Wilson had met up somewhere other than where Barnes was staying so he had to wait to see him again. Honestly, Tony suspected it to be the latter. 

Either way, it gave them all a week to prepare for Barnes' arrival. According to JARVIS, Cap chose the empty room next to his to Barnes'. Distantly, Tony wondered what he would have done if there had only been occupied rooms next to his, if he would have forced them to move rooms. 

JARVIS had also told him that Rogers and Wilson had been having some of their meaningful talks more often. The AI didn't tell him what they were about and he didn't ask. He could pretty much guess exactly what they were about, after all. He figured it was why Rogers hadn't started getting ready for Barnes' arrival immediately. He had left him with a bit of a shocking statement, to say the least. 

No matter the reason for them talking more, Tony was glad for it. Wilson had a bit of an uncanny ability to get Rogers to listen to him. Tony isn't going to be particularly surprised if Barnes could do that, too. Rogers had said that it was both Wilson and Barnes who made some good points before Tony had interrupted. From what little he had heard before that and from the times he'd talked outside the door before, plus from what everyone else had been saying, it really seemed like he was starting to see why Tony was so pissed, and why it wasn't at the person he thought it would be. 

Tony'd started leaving the workshop now, too. He avoided Rogers, of course. And he had every intention of avoiding Barnes as well once he arrived. Not forever, because that wouldn't be fair to the man. From the stories that Aunt Peggy would tell him about Bucky Barnes, he felt like they would get on pretty well. The question would be, how well would he and this new Bucky Barnes get on? And of course, there was always the matter of a certain sweet-looking metal arm. He'd only found the barest specs in the data dump from the Insight Incident and it wasn't enough for his thirsty-for-knowledge mind. Clearly, the full plans for it weren't uploaded on any computer. Which was just annoying. 

But what little he'd found were horrific to say the least. Obviously, the thing was heavier than it needed to be. And he didn't even want to think about how it must be attached. But he doubted Barnes would let him look at it. And he knew he didn't want to be around him just yet. Hell, he still hadn't actually looked at the man. 

So yes, he was going to be going to be avoiding them like the plague. 

Nat had seen fit to continue his hand-to-hand combat training while Clint watched and made comments. She went easy on him at first, probably due to her own guilt, Tony thought. Eventually though, he'd gotten her to go back to her normal way of training him, where she didn't go easy on him but she didn't push him to the point where he'd avoid the gym entirely. 

“Your form's gotten a lot better, man,” Clint commented as they left the sparring mat, sweaty and bruised (the latter being mostly Tony). 

“You noticed? I hadn't realized you even knew I was in the room. I thought you were too busy checking out Nat.” 

“Can ya blame me?” Clint joked, ducking out of the way of Natasha smacking him on the back of the head. 

Tony had to admit that while a little strained at times, he and Nat were doing pretty good and he was glad for it. The two former SHIELD agents had seen fit to distract him from the fact that Barnes should be moving in today. Truthfully, he was grateful for it. He might not ask for help but he did need it. 

“Sir, Captain Rogers and Birdbrain 2.0 have returned to the tower with Sergeant Barnes,” JARVIS cut in. 

The three fell silent, not even the usual complaining from Clint whenever Wilson was called Birdbrain 2.0. 

“Right,” Tony said decisively, “make sure the man gets all settled in, will you, JARVIS?” 

“Of course, Sir.” 

The silence continued getting increasingly more uncomfortable before Tony abruptly clapped his hands together. “Right! Well, how 'bout another round, hm?” 

The wonder twins exchanged a glance before Nat answered. “Sure thing, Tony. You ready for this?” she asked as they stepped back onto the mats. 

Tony knew the question was about more than just sparring, but he answered both anyway. ”As I'll ever be,” he replied with a bit of a self-deprecating grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to fit the "Don't bullshit me, Rogers. Did you know?" "Yes." lines in but the story said no and I am helpless to its whims.


End file.
